Girls tennis: Merjian and Lovejoy carry New Canaan over Greenwich

Tom Forde

Published 10:05 pm, Monday, May 20, 2013

If there has been one constant in the world of FCIAC girl's tennis it has been the dominance that Greenwich and New Canaan have shown for more than half a decade as either the Cardinals or the Rams have won the FCIAC tournament for seven consecutive years. As top seeded GHS hosted No.4 New Canaan in the FCIAC semifinals the rivalry of league heavyweights was renewed and it didn't fail to produce a dramatic finish. With the match knotted at three all it came down to a No.2 doubles showdown between the Greenwich duo of Lizzie Griffin and Mathilde Van Tulder against the Rams' Amanda Merjian and Sarah Lovejoy. After splitting the first two sets and going into a third set tiebreak it was Merjian and Lovejoy that escaped with a nail biting 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4) to win the match for New Canaan 4-3 over the Greenwich.

For New Canaan (15-3) head coach Erin Gildea the victory was everything she could ask for in a tennis match and the rivalry once again lived up to its billing.

"It's always close when these two teams face one another and in many ways it's unfortunate that this wasn't the finals," Gildea said. "We came up big in doubles and played them tough in singles as well. This was just a great tennis match with two great programs displaying excellent sportsmanship."

The afternoon's singles action really set the tone for the down to the wire conclusion as GHS No.1 Jenn Deluca and No.2 Sam Stone defeated Jensen Lee and Kate Howard 6-0, 6-1 and 6-2, 6-3 respectively. But the Rams would come right back with No.3 Emily Brand defeating Anna Daccache 6-2, 6-0 and No.4 Caroline Gordon knocking off Hannah Kratky 6-1, 6-4 to even the contest at 2-2.

That put the spotlight on the doubles pairings where New Canaan's No.1 tandem of Sara Greene and Kristin Laub remained unbeaten on the season besting Greenwich's Julia Akerman and Julia Hyland 6-1, 6-3. With the pressure on GHS their No.3 team of Liza Johnson and Mary Cecio answered the bell in impressive fashion defeating Gulianna Savini and Emma Gruber 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

"It was really nerve wracking playing with so much on the line," Cecio said. "But I feel as though Lizzie and I have performed with more and more confidence as the year has gone on and we showed that today."

The No.3 doubles win set the stage for the dramatic finale in No.2 doubles and the Ram upset. It was not the way GHS (16-2) coach Betsy Underhill hoped her team's tournament run would end but she managed to put the season in perspective.

"I take away from this just how proud I am of this team and how far we've come," Underhill said. "There really weren't any expectations coming into this season in light of how many changes we had and how competitive the league has become. Not making the finals isn't what we hoped for but it's irrelevant compared to how much we improved as a team."

For New Canaan the victory was not only especially sweet coming against their rival but it also provides the Rams with some much needed momentum heading into the FCIAC finals against Ludlowe Wednesday at Wilton High School scheduled for a 4 p.m. start.

"This is a huge confidence boost for our team especially our younger players," Gildea said. "Your hope is always to be clicking at the right time and currently this is the best tennis we've played all season."

On the other hand the Cardinals quickly shift focus to the Class LL State Tournament, which begins next Tuesday.

"Everyone is justifiably a little down after this loss but we're a resilient team who will put this in the past and move forward focused on states," Johnson said. "I'm confident we'll do well once we're in states and hopefully we will get one more shot at New Canaan there."